Street name sign
, in both Scottish Gaelic and English.]] A street name sign is a type of traffic sign used to identify named roads, generally those that do not qualify as expressways or highways. Street name signs are most often found posted at intersections, and are usually in perpendicularly oriented pairs identifying each of the crossing streets. Description , Serbia.]] ]] Modern street name signs are mounted on either utility poles or smaller purpose-made sign poles posted on a streetcorner, or hung over intersections from overhead supports like wires or pylons. When attached to poles, they may be stacked onto each other in alternating directions or mounted perpendicular to each other, with each sign facing the street it represents. Up until around 1900 in the USA, however, street name signs were often mounted on the corners of buildings, or even chiseled into the masonry, and many of those signs still exist in older neighborhoods. They are commonly used in France and the United Kingdom. A street name sign may optionally indicate the range of house numbers found nearby. Some street name signs also indicate an alternative name for the street, such as "Fashion Avenue" for Seventh Avenue in New York City, or "Avenue of the Arts" for Huntington Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. Multilingual signs are common and may be required by law in some areas, such as French-speaking regions of Canada. Most streets have a traffic sign at each intersection to indicate the name of the road. The design and style of the sign is usually common to the district in which it appears. The sign has the street name and sometimes other information, such as the block number or the name of the London borough in which the street is located. Such signs are often the target of simple vandalism, and signs on unusually or famously named streets are especially liable to street sign theft. In recent years, many US and Canadian cities have adopted the mast arm for traffic signal equipment; major intersections are marked with large signs mounted on the mast arms. This was started in the 1960s by the California Department of Transportation. Los Angeles and San Francisco started in the 1970s and recently New York City has introduced the bigger signs at its intersections. In 2013, New York City began to change street signs that have been previously used Highway Gothic font for a new one, Clearview, that include both upper and lower case letters, which is considered more readable. Color coding and typography Usually, the color scheme used on the sign just reflects the local standard (for example, white letters on a green background are common throughout the US). However, in some cases, the color of a sign can provide information, as well. One example can be found in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Within its city limits, all roads designated as a snow emergency route use a blue sign, these are typically major arterial routes. Other roads have green signs. Other places sometimes use blue or white signs to indicate private roads. , the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) approved color schemes for street name signs including a green, blue, or brown background with white text, or a white background with black text. Despite the MUTCD restriction only to the aforementioned color schemes, other color schemes are used in some cities; for example, the city of Mesa, Arizona uses ruby red colored street name signs at signalized intersections in the Fiesta District in the western part of the city. The city of Houston, Texas allows for street name signs in several of its neighborhoods (usually part of a management district, where property owners assess additional fees to themselves to pay for extra services) to be of significantly different color schemes and fonts than the citywide standard. Since the MUTCD guideline was adopted, some cities have begun transitioning from noncompliant colors, such as white on black in San Jose, California. In 1952 in the UK, David Kindersley submitted a design, MoT Serif, to the British Ministry of Transport, which required new lettering to use on United Kingdom road signs. Although the Road Research Laboratory found Kindersley's design more legible, the all-capitals design with serifs was passed over in favour of that of Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert. Many of the street signs in Britain use Kindersley fonts.Richard Kindersley Studio official website Gallery File:Via Dei Coronari (Straßenschild).jpg|Historic marble street sign in Rome, Italy File:Cullenstreet.JPG|Internally illuminated mast-mounted street sign in California File:Bukhara Sarrofon Kochasi.jpg|Example in Bukhara File:Artistic street sign at Długa Street in Gdańsk 1.jpg|Street sign at Długa Street in Gdańsk File:NIKAIA-pairoliereN22 Plaq.jpg|Bilingual (French/Niçois) wall-mounted street signs in Nice, France File:East Berlin street sign for Marx-Engels-Platz and television tower, 1984.jpg|East Berlin street sign for the former Marx-Engels-Platz (1984) File:Augustinergasse - Zunft zum Widder 2012-03-20 17-50-03 (P7000).jpg|Augustinergasse File:Kapucínska ulica, Bratislava (Pressburg, Pozsony) - old street sign.JPG|Historic Hungarian/German street sign in Bratislava File:Cartel calle Laurel.png|Spanish street sign, Calle Laurel File:Jaffa street, Haifa (24).JPG|Haifa, Israel File:Halfanim.jpg|A street sign in Jaffa File:Hong Kong To Kwa Wan Tsun Fat Street Road Sign.JPG|Street sign, Hong Kong File:Calcada da barra.JPG|Street sign, Macau File:Bilingual street sign in Fredricksburg Texas.png|Bilingual sign in Fredericksburg, Texas File:Bourbon Street sign in sidewalk.png|Tiles in the sidewalk mark many streets in the older neighborhoods of New Orleans File:Apak.jpg|A street sign in Jaffa Israel File:Place Dalida.JPG|A street sign in Montmartre, Paris File:Four and a half street in Berwick PA.jpg|Four and a half street in Berwick, Pennsylvania File:Plaque de la Rue des Rois, Genève.jpg|Street name sign in Geneva, Switzerland File:Street Signs in Windhoek Namibia (President´s Corner).jpg|"President´s Corner" in Windhoek, Namibia File:Esquina paulista.JPG|Street sign in São Paulo, Brazil File:15-08-Strassenschild Wisconsin IMG 1043.JPG|Milwaukee File:17-08-islcanus-RalfR-DSC 4719 1.jpg|New York City File:Via dolorosa street name sign in Jerusalem.jpg|Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem File:Calle de Cervantes - Street name plate in Madrid.jpg|Madrid File:Street sign at Palermo.jpg|Palermo File:Bilingual sign Chinatown London.jpg|Bilingual street name sign in Chinatown in Westminster, London. File:Toronto - ON - Cecil Street.jpg|Bilingual street sign in the Chinatown neighbourhood of Toronto, Canada, in Chinese and English File:Street sign, Ballyhalbert - geograph.org.uk - 184556.jpg|A bilingual street sign in Ulster Scots and English in Ballyhalbert, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. See also *FHWA Series fonts *List of public signage typefaces *Street sign theft *Traffic sign References External links *Language of the Street - an analysis of street signs in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Colchester, London and other UK cities. Category:Traffic signs Category:Street furniture